Conventional kitchen designs are arranged with kitchen appliances including a stove or oven, and countertops of a standard height, typically with storage units under the countertops and wall storage cabinets above. This type of arrangement poses a number of problems to people with limited mobility, including those who use a wheelchair, or those that have limited reach or ability to lift items in and out of a conventional cabinet or kitchen appliance which is above or below the countertop level. A standard kitchen layout is arranged for an adult person of average height, assuming an average level of mobility and dexterity. Adjusting counter heights or providing space underneath counters may assist some users, e.g. wheelchair users.
However, in most existing homes and kitchens, use of a conventional oven, e.g. for baking or roasting, requires lifting and handling of larger hot and/or heavy dishes. This poses particular problems. Even when a person is able to prepare and cook foods on the countertop or stove top, they may need assistance from others to lift and load/unload dishes from the oven, regardless of whether the oven is part of a stove or range, or a wall-mounted built-in oven. As an example, an individual with severe arthritis and limited grip strength may be able to prepare food on the countertop with suitably adapted tools and utensils, and may be able to cook on a cooktop by sliding pots or pans from the counter onto the cooktop, and back again, without lifting. However, with limited grip and strength to be able to lift dishes off the countertop into the oven and back again, assistance from another person is required to lift dishes in order to use a conventional oven, or even a countertop microwave oven. Clearly, this can be very frustrating and limits a person's independence, as well as menu choices. Thus, it would be desirable to provide cooking appliances that address this problem to enable such individuals to be able to cook more independently.
Existing commercially available domestic kitchen appliances for cooking include what are referred to as ranges (in North America), otherwise referred to as stoves or cookers (in UK), comprising an oven and a cooktop in a single unit, typically allocated a 30″ space (North America) or 24″ space (Europe) in a conventional kitchen design. Such stoves or ranges usually have an oven with a door that is hinged at the bottom and opens downwards.
Another common arrangement is to have a separate cooktop that is mounted in the countertop, with storage underneath, and a separate wall-mounted, built-in oven, placed above countertop level within a cabinet, and having a bottom-hinged or side-hinged oven door. Smaller countertop ovens, including microwave ovens and toaster ovens are also known, having side-hinged or bottom-hinged doors. Microwave ovens may be countertop models which can be placed on the countertop or on an elevated shelf, or on an under-counter shelf. Built in microwave models are also known, having a bottom hinged door for wall-cabinet mounting or under-counter mounting, and more recently a microwave drawer configuration has become available. Nevertheless, all these configurations are effectively “front-loading”.
In alternative configurations, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,287,462 to Dengler and U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,245 to Roch, both entitled “High-Level Built-In Oven Unit”, it is also known to have wall-mounted ovens that are bottom-opening with a motor driven lift door/platform, e.g. commercially available Bosch or Gaggenau LiftMatic™ ovens.
The drive mechanism for raising and lowering the door is mounted within the oven housing, with extension slide arms that extend to lower the door into the open position and retract into the housing to close the door. However, it is apparent, from the arrangement of the controls that these appliances are designed for use by able bodied and average height users who can reach the high level control panel on the door panel, i.e. when the oven is closed. Even for able bodied users, such designs pose problems for cleaning and maintenance, e.g., is difficult to reach inside the oven for cleaning.
Thus, there is a need for alternative or improved cooking appliances that enable or facilitate use by individuals with physical challenges and/or address other problems mentioned above.